Saygun Müziğinde Makam Soyutlamaları: Piyano Konçertosu, OP. 34, I

Abstract

It is clear that every composer, who aims to write new music through using a traditional component, will not authentically use the material and will involve various reflections, impressions, in other words, abstractions created by some methods.

This occasion also applies to the music of Ahmed Adnan Saygun: His statements that he regards the makam as color in polyphony and uses them freely in the equal-tempered system constitute the background of the makam abstractions in Saygun’s music naturally.

Which makams are used and abstracted in rather short extracts of Saygun? Are there any materials out of the makam domain included? This study, which analyzes the pitch organization of the first 37 and the last 17 measures of Saygun’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (Op. 34), I, seeks answers to these questions.

In line with the analysis, the following two critical results have been reached, which we believe will shed light on Saygun’s approach in makam abstraction:

• These two short extracts - whose performing durations do not even reach 1 minute and 30 seconds respectively - point to an extremely variegated theoretical background with the abstraction of seven separate makams and a style.

• In our opinion, the fact that all four scales originating from Western music are included in the extracts is a clear proof of the composer’s identity as the “musical bridge between East and West.”